YOUR COMMENTS

This has actually been a banner year for Republicanics and their ventures into trying to control your bedroom. This year the corruption has been having men cheat on their wives with other women. Now there's a change. What an improvement. Maybe you should bring back Gingrich - he is nothing compared to Foley, Craig etc.
- Robert, Deerfield

Give it a rest UL. Same-sex CIVIL marriage will ultimately be federally mandated.

When the CA case gets to the Supreme Court within the next year or two, it's pretty obvious that they're likely to vote that there is no legitimate, tangible reason to prohibit same-sex couples from entering into a CIVIL marriage contract.

Don't believe me?

Just look at 2003's 6-3 Lawrence v. Texas ruling that struck down the sodomy laws in the eleven states that still had them. Justice Kennedy, in writing for the majority said that the decision "leaves same-sex marriage bans on shakey ground". That's pretty much verbatim.

So, chill. Same-sex marriage will be the law of the land within the next few years and you won't have to worry about not having the ability to use the ballot box to determine the civil liberties of a small group of your fellow Americans.

Thank, God.
- deshard, Laconia

This has little to do with intolerance and everything to do with using your sexual preference to make you a victim and thus entitled to other people's money. THAT is the big objection from which those who cry bigotry are trying to divert attention. The key word is entitlements... Be gay all you want, doesn't bother me, but please, stop being victims so you can pry more money out of the rest of us. The idea of two men or two women marrying is just plain silly. If I were to turn gay tomorrow, I still would not support it just so I could get a few more bucks or benefits from my employer.
- Sue, Manchester

One of the duties of the representatives in our republic is to prevent the minority from the tyranny of the majority.

It wasn't just gay legislators who voted for marriage equality: about 90% of the General court members who voted for marriage equality were straight and about 80% were currently married to persons of the opposite sex. They did this because they still recognized the need to protect the rights of the minority.

This issue, in any case, effects gay people much more than straight people. Whom (if anyone) you marry has a huge effect on your own life and your spouse's. Whom your neighbor marries has little or no effect on your life.
- Timothy Horrigan, Durham, NH

The anti-tax jingoist rant is intended to continue the NH practice of favoring the interests of the privileged rich in escaping their responsibility for paying for government. This is to be accomplished by keeping local education as a heavy burden on the elderly, pitting them against their grandchildren and other children over the issue of how much to spend on education and other costs relating to the welfare of children. As NH becomes more urban, and more of our citizens earn their livelihoods in professional, managerial and technical fields, the conservative Republican myth will be revealed as the lie it has always been, and this paper will have to change or die.
- Gene Sidore, Hollis

Don from Nashua we don't have a democratic government, we have a representative republic form of government. Our founders were well aware that Democracies as a system of government always fail.
- Don Diamant, Milton, NH

To Sam from Concord,

That is exactly what democracy is. Mob Rule. 51% of the majority get's their way.

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49." Thomas Jefferson

This is what this country is based on and it should be adhered to today.
- Don, Nashua

To Sam from Concord,

That is exactly what democracy is. Mob Rule. 51% of the majority get's their way.

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49." Thomas Jefferson

This is what this country is based on and it should be adhered to in this day and age.

Come next election day you will a big change in the NH elected officials. They do not listen ot the public anymore and think they know what is better for us than we do. It is still a government of the people for the people.

If you don't like it, you vote and you live with the result. There are winners and there are losers in life.
- Don, Nashua

There's a reason why civil rights issues are not decided by popular vote. If it were up to the tyranny of the majority, we'd still have two slave classes in America: the blacks and the women.
- Susan Bruce, Jackson, NH

Leislation is ok unless something is passed that you do not agree with based on moral/religious ground. Subjective criteria that deny equality to all have no place in law. Mob rule is not the american way, is is the last bastion of angry peasants. Give it a rest, and let our elected representatives make laws, and do not try to change our state's system of government because two men or two women getting married ties your ecclesiatical panties in a bunch.
- Sam, Concord

The basic problem with this whole mess is that the Democrats didn't have the basic human decency to campaign on this point. Well, let's see, they didn't campaign on a lot of things that suddenly appeared when they got in office. They were too busy campaigning on the "kill anyone connected with GB Bush". And lots of you fell for it. You deserve what you got - unfortunately, those of us who were smarter than you are now paying for your stupidity too.
- Sandy, Thornton

Can we also vote on whether a corporation should be considered a person for the purpose of Constitutional protections, as is now the case based on the erroneous reading of an 1880's Supreme Court headnote? What say you on THAT you CONservative no-minds at the UL?
- Fischercat, Dover

T in Milford is a hateful bigot who willfully mis-represents Biblical teaching. No wonder he won't sign his name.
- Jim, Manchester

Kevin in Lancaster,
What does "get the government out of marriage" mean for divorce courts, for the tax code, for medical power of attorney, etc.? I'm interested in your ideas but, I don't know how they would ever work out on the ground.
- Jim, Manchester

The pro-gay ‘rainbow’ ethic, and the Biblical pro-family ethic are equally valid under the US & NH constitutions. It does not matter that one is informed by humanism and the other divinely informed. No one ever said religious people can’t vote their consciences. It is well established that voluntary prayer in public spaces is legal, etc. So it comes down to preference of the majority, of how we want to organize our society. Voting on the issue is the most natural thing.

Gay marriage stomps on the valid religious traditions, historic culture, and legitimate ethos of the majority. Traditional marriage stomps on the valid ethic of commitment between gay partners. That is why civil unions was the best compromise.

Homosexuals have never been denied the right to ‘marry;’ it’s been happening in the Episcopal Church for decades, and for centuries in non-religious ceremonies. It’s simply that the majority has not been forced to recognize these unions through civic associations, legal institutions, and the tax code. No one has been beaten or arrested for participating in a gay ‘wedding’ (as a black would have been in Alabama 40 years ago for trying to vote, for example).

This is all about forcing acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. It is about subjugating any religious ethic, to a secular ethic. It is about forcing the majority to subsidize a lifestyle, however constitutionally valid, that they disagree with. Homosexuals are not prohibited from seeking and obtaining happiness, unless it makes them happy to discriminate against people who are morally opposed to homosexuality.

It took hundreds of years to eliminate slavery, and another 85 years to achieve civil rights equality in the US. The women’s suffrage movements toiled for 60 years to 're-educate' society. The rainbow movement has only been at it 35 years, and hasn't given 're-education' adequate time to work before resorting to legal force. That is why you are seeing this blow back.
- Jim, Manchester, Ward 9

This editorial is ridiculous and what is being suggested would violate the NH constitution. God forbid that NH begin to implement a referendum system by Maine and California. Before you know it, applications will be submitted for new services and unfunded mandates.

Union Leader, you can't have it both ways. If you are suggesting that a constitution amendment be put before the voters, there is a process for that. If there aren't enough votes to get it on the ballot, then find candidates that will.
- Bertha Fox-Dominguez, Bedford

So, conservatives are not in favor of a popular vote when it comes to presidential elections, but they are when it comes to gay marriage?

Even if I was against gay marriage, I would never want it decided by a popular vote. Mob rule doesn't work.
- Bob, Concord

Of course voters had a say in the Gay Marriage vote when they elected their members of the legislature. If they don't like it they can boot out any legislature who voted for it.

Maine's election was not even an off year election, it was a local one, with barely 50 % of the voters bothering to vote.

That's hardly some big motivated vote. We'll see what they do in a normalized election with a larger population base.

Big government advocates who love big government sooo much that they spent millions and millions of dollars to make government decide who could marry who, and they could barely get 50% of the Maine voters even interested, and even then it was pretty evenly split.

NH is a small government electorate. They don't favor the UL's big government view of marriage decisions. And their elected citizen representatives said so very clearly.
- Bob Jean, Northwood, NH 03261

The thing about this that bothers me the most is now that the meaning of marriage has been redefined by our leaders where will this new definition lead in the future?

Yes people have the constitutional right to the pursuit of freedom, liberty and happiness some argue. So if gays were denied their rights because they did not wish to marry under the normal definition of marriage when can we expect the age of consent to be lowered for pedophiles? After all they simply want to marry and have sex with what is currently defined as under age children and are seeking their own definition of happiness by doing so.

Saying that it is sad how we let a few elected officials dictate the new meaning of marriage on the entire population and as this story points out they never brought up their plans during the elections.
- Deb, Derry

Gay marriage, really guys? If two people want to get married who cares! Does it affect anyone but the two people involved, nope. This is a secular society, not some fake Christian one. If we followed the Bible, then women would basically be slaves and stoned to death if the left their husbands. We have a clear seperation of church and state folks, take your Bible and pray that Jesus changes America for you! Won't happen guys not now, or ever.

Live, FREE, or die....that doesn't just apply to conservative christians...
- T, Milford

Theres two things actually three things I've learned in life, the tax bill always cometh, death is going to happen no matter what, and democrats seldom care about constieunts when they get elected.
With that my sermon ends and now I need to get some sleep, I figure 3 years 2 months, and about 1 week and 5 days might just be about right and I write this off to one heck of a bad nightmare.
- Jack Alex, Manchester

You want to protect heterosexual marriage as the bedrock of society? Then you should support gay marriage. The more gays are accepted, the less they will be likely to pretend they're straight, and enter into sham heterosexual marriages that eventually end in divorce, hurting everybody involved but especially the children.
- Dom, Weare

This is a repeat propaganda column, we all just weighed in on gay marriage, and save for a few bigots the responses were overwhelmingly in favor or BUTTING OUT of consenting adults private lives.

Glad to hear Lynch may be running again, he's a pillar of fairness.
- Tom Labrie, Rochester

Why aren't civil unions enough? Do they HAVE to have it called marriage? Whether we like it or not, a man and woman being married is different than a man and man/woman and woman being married. I wish gay people would just get over it and be happy with civil unions, as long as they are getting the same benefits as married couples.

And, Brian, I do agree with you about making it harder to get divorced and punishing those who commit adultery. I think our society is becoming a very sad society.
- Beth, Dover

Legalized gay marriage threatens to harm our children and by extension our culture. It gives you gay activists carte blanche to go into the public schools and eradicate examples and references to traditional family structure, or at least demand "equal time" presentation of gay marriage structures. That harms our children (which statistically speaking you gay partners do not have in great numbers) by making our family structures appear irrelevant and unworthy of following. If current trends continue, in time gay activists will be able to turn our defense of traditional families (and the Bible too) into prosecutable "hate speech."

Your gay activism tears away at traditional family structures just like all the other stresses on stable traditional families like drug abuse (including alcohol) and excessive gambling and abortion and infidelity, etc. Anything which is harmful to stable environments for raising children to follow the pattern of the centuries is a threat.

This is where you gay activists like to say even hetero families are disintegrating and not working either, considering the divorce rates, etc.
Two wrongs do not make a right. The disintegration of families is in part attributable to the liberalization and hetero "sexual revolution" of the 1960's. "If it feels good, do it" is not conducive to raising responsible, honorable, children into adulthood. The very statistics you gay activists use to justify gay marriage, I use to prove the breakdown of the family has been harmful.

Your efforts break the chain of the single most important construct of civil society -- the family. That's why you have lost in every one of 31 states where voting was allowed. We family oriented people well know the strain on our families and temptations on our kids as they grow, so we draw the line with our votes against your efforts.

Now stop saying there is "no harm."
- Ed Holdgate, Live Free or Die Sandown, NH

Ahhh I get it now. Lets round up all the gay people and put them into concentration camps. Obviously their mere presence in society is destroying it. And lets throw the corrupt judges into those camps too.....curious though no mention that the Manchester Schools are failing the no child left behind standards, ummm ohhh crap that was a George Bush idea.....excuse me while I bow in front of my Bush family shrine. Damn the state could actually take control of Southside for failing to make the grade 5 years in a row.....Gee Why would that not be mentioned in the article, or that the Manchester school's class size is 6 students per a class larger than the state average.......well its almost 10 time to light my incense in front of the Bush Shine....Barbara gets upset if I am late.
- Scott, manchester

The Union Leader was whining all last spring that debating gay marriage is a waste of time, since there are more important issues to tackle. Now they want to go back and focus on it.

You guys make me laugh.
- Tom, Keene

Hey Mr. Smith

You and Barny Frank can go and smoke your bones in another state, But we the people of 31 straight states and counting, have unanimously voted against you and your type.
When the people of America vote, you will all be defeated!
- Randy, Manchester

And the reason you are against having a couple who are committed to one another and their community, be legally tied and obligated to that commitment is...? Yes...???
Doesn't it make more sense to require a formal commitment from this couple so there are clear legal ties to children, property, and residence?
I would think so...
- pjtank, northwood

The editorial's last line says it all:

the only way the people are going to have a say on either of these questions is to vote out those who won't let them speak directly.

That IS the way democracy works. Our ELECTED representatives already voted to allow gay marriage. GET OVER IT and get on with the important things in life.

I am so sick of reading about this as if it is an issue. Twenty-five percent of the children who live in Manchester are POOR, soldiers are still being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, millions in this country have no health insurance, foxes are guarding the financial henhouse, and millions are jobless. Do you really believe that another ounce of effort should be expended on the gay marriage issue?!

WOW! I can't believe I've just expended another ounce of energy responding to this drivel from the Union Leader and its supportersl
- Susan, Raymond

Simple!!! Let the people decide!
- Doug, Alton

Imagine if the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were subjected to a popular vote.
- Kerri, Nashua

With any luck, the voters of NH will send Flynch and most of the Dims packing in a year from now.
- sally, candia, nh

Sue from Manchester wrote: "They all need to be arrested.....and thrown in jail."

What good would that do? As soon as we vote in replacements, they are bought by the special interests and lobbyists. Try going to a legislative or committee hearing and see how the lobbyists greatly outnumber the citizens. Money talks in the Corporate States of America.
- Bill, Wolfeboro

We are no longer citizens, but are now subjects. The government is supposed to only derive their authority to govern from the citizens, but as we see, they rule rather than govern. The ballot box is supposed to be the relief valve in our democracy which short-circuits revolutions, however our election process has become corrupt, and is no longer a fair and free election. Our constitution has come under attack from domestic enemies, although not as overt as a foreign power occupying our country, nonetheless, we are occupied, and no longer enjoy the freedoms and governance listed in our constitution. We have lost our ability to self-govern, and it has happened on our watch....shame on the citizenry of this once great country. More shame, however on the politicians and the media which has become complicit in this bloodless coup.
- Kevin, Campton

It is nice to see the Union Leader call for the ouster of Governor Lynch. It is time for a change in Concord. This issue is not the issue to bring about that change.
The institution of marriage has been broken for more than thirty years by No Fault divorce laws. Nothing can be worse than the broken homes, financial destitution, despair and misery and never mind the homicides and suicides related to these divorces. Two gay people getting married can't be worse than that.
- Chris, Merrimack

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Democrat Party will learn a hard lesson in a year from now.
- Mike, Temple

Sue is right, however Government is so corrupt, there is no fixing it , we are at the end of society as we know it
- Bill Knightly, Gilford

I live in Maine and I voted in support of gay marriage.

NOT because I am a democrat.
NOT because I really care about gay marriage.

I voted for gay marriage because I think the government has NO place in determining who should or should not get married.

I respect everyone's religion but I think that people have NO right injecting their religious ideologies into the government, especially when it oppresses others.

Both Lynch AND Baldacci made the right decisions.
- pete, kittery, ME

It seems to be a Democratic trend now in just flat out ignoring the concerns and vote of the people. This is an outrage to 'We the people' but certainly an awakening to a voice that will be heard!
- Tom T, Manchester, NH

So your governor is unprincipled. He says one thing before the elections and does another after. What do you expect? He's a politician, a Democrat at that. Our governor, Baldacci, did the same thing. He said he was against homosexual marriage until the legislature presented him with a bill to sign. He signed it; whereupon, the people went through the referendum process and just vetoed it. Too bad you don't have that in New Hampshire.
- John, ME

We alre slowly becoming Massachusetts North
- Rick, Windham

Nice job UL. When you've got nothing else worth printing then just make something up to get the nutjobs fired up. Truly pathetic.
- Bob V, Manchester

Radio news out of Boston last week was amusing, wondering what Maine activists would "do next." What do you do next, after the issue goes to voters and they reject it? You trash the voters! "They voted out of fear," said a co-ed from Colby College.

Dittoes to Kevin--Ultimately, get government out of the business of certifying marriages. Instead, some Republicans want a constitutional amendment (which, as Putney shows, will not pass) attaching further rules to it. The state constitution should define the process of government, not be a place where you dictate policy, no matter how popular or how much I agree with it, to shield it from future changes in opinion.
- Spike, Brentwood NH

Normally I would support the process Maine used to overturn gay marriage, however in this instance I do not. Civil rights should not be up for referendum, and gay marriage is at its foundation a civil right. I hope NH legislators grow a bit of spine on this. In 2 or 3 years it'll be old news and everyone will wonder why all the fuss.
- Jeff, Goffstown

Why is it any of the government's business who gets married? As long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, it shouldn't be.
- Mike Ruff, Manchester

If we're to have a vote to decide on the legality of gay marriage, we should also vote to enact laws that make it more difficult to obtain a divorce and that more severely punish those who commit adultery. Each of those present a greater risk to the "bedrock of our society" than gay marriage.

If you're going to provide a reason for being against gay marriage, you should be willing to see it through to the logical conclusion.
- Brian, Milford

We should never vote for our U.S. senators, U.S. representatives, governor, state senators, or state representatives based on how pleased we are (or aren't) with the president and his party on the national level.

Sadly, most people cast their votes based on how ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN/MSNBC/FOX tell them the country is doing. They swallow the outrage they're presented on TV, and vote against it. Voters have become puppets.

As for gay marriage, I remain shocked that conservative Christians aren't leading the revolt against government licenses being required for a legal marriage. How dare government intrude into a religious ceremony, and declare who may or may not be legally married?

Where is your baptism license? Your license to preach the Gospel? Your government-approved certificate of salvation?

Get government out of marriage. Period.

For the record, I am a happily married heterosexual Christian with a government-issued piece of paper that makes my marriage "legal". It's a shame that fellow Christians would consider a courthouse marriage with a license more valid than a church wedding without a license.
- Kevin, Lancaster

The citizens of Maine defeated marriage on a majority vote - a constitutional amendment, as you well know (and shame on you for pretending ignorance!) takes a 2/3 majority of the voters to pass once it gets approved by a 3/5 majority in the legislature. Thus an amendment would probably never pass in this state, using the votes in Maine as a guide where it received only a 52% majority.

You have also never proven what harm there is to the people of NH for having same-sex marriage for the simple reason that there is none!
- Putney, Manchester

Where did the UL get the info that Lynch is running for a 4th term ? I'm not aware that he's come out and said such. I, too, watched in wonder as Lynch lied through his teeth right up until the last minute about gay marriage, and then did a flip-flop. Lynch.....like the party he represents, is no longer in touch with the public. If he runs in 2010 he loses.
- Jay Collins, Laconia

If the republicans decide to demonize gays and try to revoke gay marriage, I will hold my nose and vote for a straight Democratic ticket.

As in independent voter, I prefer the republicans when they are fiscally conservative and socially libertarian. But if they decide to try to jam their bibles down our throats then the Dems will get my vote.

Back off, republicans. Live and let live or stay in the minority.

Live Free or Die includes gays too.
- Bob Smith, Milford

Scary isn't it? Government is illegal and out of control at all levels. Voting them out isn't good enough. They all need to be arrested.....and thrown in jail.
- Sue, Manchester